German investors' confidence hits 2-year low

Investors’ confidence in Germany slumped to the lowest level since 2012 in August, as Ukraine crisis continued to concern business in Europe’s largest economy, a survey found on Tuesday.
Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim said its index for investors and analysts’ confidence in economic outlook fell significantly by 18.5 points to 8.6 points. It was the eighth consecutive drop in a row, and hit the lowest level since December 2012.
“The decline in economic sentiment is likely connected to the ongoing geopolitical tensions that have affected the German economy by now,” said the think tank in a statement.
Earlier this month, official data showed that both German industrial new orders and output dropped in June, signaling a disappointing performance of Europe’s largest economy in the second quarter.
German Federal Statistical Office was scheduled to release its preliminary data of German gross domestic product (GDP) on Thursday. Economists expected the economy would significantly slow down following a strong growth of 0.8 percent during the first three months of 2014.
“Current figures on industrial production and incoming orders suggest markedly reduced investment activities on the part of German firms against the backdrop of uncertain sales prospects,” said ZEW, adding that as economy in the euro zone was not gaining momentum either, “economic growth in Germany will be weaker in 2014 than expected.”
German government forecast economy to grow by 1.8 percent this year and by 2 percent in the next. German central bank, however, estimated in its monthly report in July that the growth stagnated in last quarter.